From a distance, it seems like Kelvin Benjamin had a good rookie season. He did, in fact, exceed expectations. He caught 9 touchdowns, and some of them were pretty spectacular – using his size to catch high balls. Most memorably, he had 2 TDs in the playoff loss at Seattle (plus another near touchdown where he caught it over Richard Sherman but didn’t get his feet in bounds).
But as I sift thru the overall numbers from the 2014 season, Benjamin doesn’t grade out quite as high as I expected.
Most notably, they tried to use him around the end zone, throwing lob balls to that big 6-foot-5 frame, but those plays have to be really precise. The throws has to be right, and the receiver has to time his jump right.
Ultimately, the Panthers threw to Benjamin 10 times when they were inside the 10-yard line. He caught only 2 of those balls. Remarkably, that was the worst of all 42 players who saw at least 10 balls in that part of the field.
I’m not saying Benjamin is overrated or a guy to avoid in 2015. (My gut tells me he’s good and probably will get better). But these kind of things are always easier said in the offseason. Plenty of receivers surprisingly regress in their second seasons, and Benjamin could easily be one of those guys.
On this chart below, I’ve included 2-point conversions (that is what I’m calling touchdowns are actually touchdowns and 2-point conversions combined – about eight of these guys caught a 2-point conversion).
| RECEIVING INSIDE THE 10 (7-plus attempts) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Att | No | Pct | TD | TD Pct |
| 1. | RB Ahmad Bradshaw, Ind. | 9 | 8 | 89% | 5 | 56% |
| 2. | TE Heath Miller, Pitt. | 8 | 7 | 88% | 3 | 38% |
| 3. | TE Rob Gronkowski, N.E. | 7 | 6 | 86% | 6 | 86% |
| 4. | WR James Jones, Oak. | 7 | 6 | 86% | 5 | 71% |
| 5. | TE Dwayne Allen, Ind. | 7 | 6 | 86% | 5 | 71% |
| 6. | WR Emmanuel Sanders, Den. | 15 | 12 | 80% | 6 | 40% |
| 7. | TE Julius Thomas, Den. | 10 | 8 | 80% | 7 | 70% |
| 8. | WR Mike Wallace, Mia. | 8 | 6 | 75% | 6 | 75% |
| 9. | RB LeVeon Bell, Pitt. | 8 | 6 | 75% | 3 | 38% |
| 10. | WR Randall Cobb, G.B. | 15 | 11 | 73% | 9 | 60% |
| 11. | WR Harry Douglas, Atl. | 7 | 5 | 71% | 3 | 43% |
| 12. | TE Jermaine Gresham, Cin. | 7 | 5 | 71% | 4 | 57% |
| 13. | WR Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 7 | 5 | 71% | 2 | 29% |
| 14. | TE Coby Fleener, Ind. | 7 | 5 | 71% | 5 | 71% |
| 15. | WR Roddy White, Atl. | 10 | 7 | 70% | 6 | 60% |
| 16. | TE Jimmy Graham, N.O. | 11 | 7 | 64% | 7 | 64% |
| 17. | TE Martellus Bennett, Chi. | 10 | 6 | 60% | 4 | 40% |
| 18. | WR Odell Beckham Jr., NYG | 10 | 6 | 60% | 6 | 60% |
| 19. | TE Larry Donnell, NYG | 12 | 7 | 58% | 5 | 42% |
| 20. | TE Owen Daniels, Balt. | 7 | 4 | 57% | 4 | 57% |
| 21. | WR Antonio Brown, Pitt. | 19 | 10 | 53% | 7 | 37% |
| 22. | TE Antonio Gates, S.D. | 16 | 8 | 50% | 8 | 50% |
| 23. | WR Dez Bryant, Dall. | 10 | 5 | 50% | 5 | 50% |
| 24. | WR Julian Edelman, N.E. | 10 | 5 | 50% | 3 | 30% |
| 25. | WR Eric Decker, NYJ | 8 | 4 | 50% | 2 | 25% |
| 26. | WR Hakeem Nicks, Ind. | 8 | 4 | 50% | 3 | 38% |
| 27. | WR Andre Johnson, Hou. | 11 | 5 | 45% | 3 | 27% |
| 28. | TE Delanie Walker, Tenn. | 9 | 4 | 44% | 3 | 33% |
| 29. | WR Brandon Marshall, Chi. | 9 | 4 | 44% | 4 | 44% |
| 30. | RB Shane Vereen, N.E. | 9 | 4 | 44% | 2 | 22% |
| 31. | TE Joseph Fauria, Det. | 7 | 3 | 43% | 2 | 29% |
| 32. | WR Eddie Royal, S.D. | 7 | 3 | 43% | 3 | 43% |
| 33. | WR Brandon LaFell, N.E. | 7 | 3 | 43% | 3 | 43% |
| 34. | WR Jordy Nelson, G.B. | 17 | 7 | 41% | 4 | 24% |
| 35. | WR Rueben Randle, NYG | 10 | 4 | 40% | 3 | 30% |
| 36. | WR Demaryius Thomas, Den. | 19 | 7 | 37% | 5 | 26% |
| 37. | WR Alshon Jeffery, Chi. | 19 | 7 | 37% | 6 | 32% |
| 38. | TE Andrew Quarless, G.B. | 9 | 3 | 33% | 3 | 33% |
| 39. | WR Cecil Shorts III, Jac. | 7 | 2 | 29% | 1 | 14% |
| 40. | WR Vincent Jackson, T.B. | 7 | 2 | 29% | 2 | 29% |
| 41. | TE Charles Clay, Mia. | 13 | 3 | 23% | 1 | 8% |
| 42. | WR Kelvin Benjamin, Car. | 10 | 2 | 20% | 2 | 20% |
—Ian Allan